


A Mountain She Remembers Climbing

by astral_plant



Series: Grit in the Oyster, Pearl in the Shell [2]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Future Fic, Goofy Teens Now Goofy Young Adults, Humor, Mild Nostalgia-induced Angst, Sharing a Bed, Sleepovers, Slow Burn, They'll Get There... Eventually, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-25 00:18:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16650658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astral_plant/pseuds/astral_plant
Summary: Blinking open her eyes, Claudia looks up and meets the violet gaze of a hooded figure standing by the doorway. A normal response would be to hightail it out of the room to warn the others about the intruder in their midst. In contrast, the sight only serves to perk Claudia up, jolting her the rest of the way back into the land of the living.In a time of peace, Rayla drops by the castle unannounced, to the bittersweet delight of a sleep-deprived Claudia.





	A Mountain She Remembers Climbing

It is well into the night when Claudia finally sets down her quill. By then, the castle is muted but for the distant, clanking armor of a guard making their rounds. Yawning, she flexes her stiff fingers until feeling trickles back in tiny pinpricks.   

Claudia slumps over her wooden desk, on papers detailing the budget for this year’s armoury. So, no one told her how much paperwork being the High Mage of Katolis actually entailed, Claudia thinks tiredly. Still, if that was the cost of peace, she’d gladly pay the price a thousand times over. 

The running of a kingdom sure makes for a dull, tedious affair. She closes her eyes to doze, and sees the figures dance in her head: suits of armor doing pirouettes on stage to the thunderous applause of an audience of personified coins. The dream fizzles out to the sound of someone in the audience loudly clearing their throat.

Blinking open her eyes, Claudia looks up and meets the violet gaze of a hooded figure standing by the doorway. A normal response would be to hightail it out of the room to warn the others about the intruder in their midst. In contrast, the sight only serves to perk Claudia up, jolting her the rest of the way back into the land of the living.

“Rayla!” Claudia cheerfully exclaims at the sight. The wooden chair she’s seated on scrapes the stone floor, then topples backwards as she rises abruptly to her feet. 

“You’ve got… a little something right there,” says Rayla. Wearing a mild smile, she points helpfully to the parchment stuck to the side of Claudia’s cheek. 

“Oh!” Claudia’s still slightly dazed when she peels back the offending item to lay it on the table. “Thanks. Wait… is this another part of a dream?”

“You just woke up, so no. Besides, a dream within a dream? That doesn’t make any sense,” Rayla dismisses her theories with a tepid smile. It sinks into a grimace when her thoughts skirt darker depths. “Unless… Is this another dark magic thing I need to be wary of?” 

“Pssh. There’s no such thing,” Claudia eases her concern with a wave of her hand. She lets her thoughts stray for a bit, her eyes taking on a sharper, more considering gleam. “Probably no such thing. I mean, it _is_ a pretty vast forbidden compendium of spells.”

“Ugh. That’s comforting. Why’re you looking at me all funny? You can’t still think—” Rayla scoffs indignantly as she pulls back her hood, revealing her long, tousled mop of silver hair. “That doesn’t even make any sense! Why in the world would you dream about me, out of everyone you know?”

“Well, you are my favorite elf,” Claudia says with a laugh. For added effect, she pinches her chin with her index finger and thumb as she circles Rayla in a broad arc.

“Wow. Alright,” Rayla says, nonplussed as she awkwardly scratches the side of her cheek. Claudia swears she sees pink dust its surface, but it's a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kind of thing. Before she gets the chance to tease, Rayla’s already schooled her features into a neutral expression, already has her arms crossed defensively in front of her. “For the record, Ez is my favorite human.”

“Ouch,” Claudia says, staggering back with a grimace as she feigns a grievous chest wound. It lasts for only a moment before Claudia eases an eye open to shoot her a playful look. “Okay, you’re the real deal. Only Rayla would say something so mean but to the point."

She receives a small smirk for her efforts, which Claudia mirrors in kind with a lopsided grin. 

The steps she takes towards Rayla are slow and deliberate, as if to savour the ebbing distance between them. Part of it she attributes to habit, for there was a time Claudia remembers approaching her as she would a stray cat: cautiously and curiously, always excited and a little on edge about the response she would get in return.

To Claudia’s staggering disappointment, Rayla holds a hand out to bar her way when she tries to close the rest of the distance between them with a hug.

“Save it for later. Trust me,” Rayla warns as she takes a step back. She takes one look at Claudia’s sullen pout, then elaborates with an explanation. “I took a shortcut through a mud swamp to get here earlier.”

“Alright—” Claudia says decidedly as she taps Rayla’s nose with her index finger—”but I’m holding you to that IOU.” 

Rayla responds with an affirming grunt and a rudimentary roll of her eyes. 

Claudia just laughs.  _Classic Rayla,_ she thinks, ever fond.

“Hey, I just thought of a great idea!” Claudia exclaim excitedly. She leans against the doorframe. “What if we have a sleepover? It’ll be just like old times!”

To her credit, Rayla looks like she seriously ponders the notion for a bit before actually shooting her down. 

“...Old times, eh? Sounds like too much trouble. That’s alright, I’ll crash in a guest room.”

“Aww… C’mon, Rayla! It’s been forever. Plus, I’ll get to practice braiding your hair,” Claudia whines as she nudges Rayla repeatedly in the side with her elbow. “I’ll make you pancakes in the morning…”  

Though Rayla starts out stone-faced, her resolution crumbles more with each successive wheedle. At long last, she caves after letting out a long-suffering sigh. 

“Alright, alright. Stop looking like I kicked your puppy,” she says as she raises her hands in surrender. “You've won me over. But only after a shower and a change of clothes,” Rayla grumbles the latter as she crosses her arms.

“Rayla, you've got yourself a deal,” Claudia says as she smoothly ushers Rayla out into the dimly lit castle corridor. “Come on, I’ll walk you to the baths.” 

Rayla lets out a pleased hum at the mention of a bath. For all her earlier grousing, she trails along dutifully as they stroll through long, sprawling walkways lined intermittently by oil lamps. 

The walkway is a tad drafty, but not to the point of being freezing. Claudia doesn't need to rely on any particular castle feature to find her way around. She’s lived behind these walls almost all her life, and could probably walk the distance blindfolded.  

At some point, she glances over to Rayla. She thinks it’ll just be in passing, but ends up enthralled by how light and shadow play across Rayla’s sharp, jaunty features. It's like she's witnessing a portrait in motion: a stalwart subject captured from a hundred different angles, each perspective another work of art. 

Artists had their muses, didn't they? She understands a little better now, she thinks, about how they must've felt. She understands a little better now, and kind of wishes that she had Callum’s talent for art, to put to pen and paper this sudden yearning squeezing her lungs, her heart.

Oh, but she digresses… 

The point was that Rayla looks remarkably unhaggard for someone at the tail end of a long, arduous journey. Her lilac eyes remain bright and clear despite the time of night. Her stance is purposeful and proud as ever.  _She sure looks cranky_   _though. Boy, does she look cranky_ , Claudia thinks, of the way her delicate eyebrows pinch together, and how her expression seems set in a frown. 

Claudia knows it’s a little strange, but she finds the sight kind of comforting. It’s like a key to a locked chest filled with a hundred different memories of Rayla donning that very expression. Claudia looks at her, and for an instant, she’s taken back to a different time, back to their journey together, back when they were trying to save a world on the brink of war…

How much time has she spent meandering? It feels like she blinks and they've already reached their destination.

 

* * *

“Voilà!” Claudia exclaims, gesturing to the water-filled bathtub after she’s uttered the incantation for the spell. “Perks of being a Mage: hot baths at all hours of the day. Or night.” 

She had delivered her lines with a flourish, but when she peeks into the tub now, it’s apparent that steam had yet to rise. At first, she thinks it the cause of the measly nub of a candle she has placed by the foot of the tub. But, ok. If she was being entirely honest, it might’ve been cause it was hard to perform that level of magical precision with how beat she’s feeling right now.

“Okay, so just give me about—” Claudia says sheepishly as she dips her hand in the icy waters of the bathtub—”four more minutes.”

“Pretty sure you’re supposed to say voilà only after the magic’s done,” Rayla says chidingly with her hands on her hips. There’s a jaunty little smirk on her face that clues Claudia into the fact that she’s being teased. 

“Details, details,” Claudia waves off her gibe with the hand not emerged in what was now (she probably isn't just imagining it) semi-lukewarm water. “So how hot do you want it? Looking to be a red lobster on this fine night?”

“Sadly, no,” Rayla says with a chuckle as she shucks off her black cloak. It lands on the floor with a heavy whomp. Her arm guards and curved daggers follow suit, though the latter she places reverently atop her cloak. Claudia watches intently as Rayla sheds piece after piece of livery. She tries really hard not to stare… too much. 

“You don't have to go through the trouble, y’know?” Rayla says, elbows leaning over a wash basin filled with lukewarm water from the tub. “The cold’s no big deal. I've bathed in rivers.”

“We’ve all bathed in rivers, Rayla. The point is… okay, two points.” Claudia extends two fingers. “First off, you don't have to risk hypothermia in a castle. Point number two: I want to do this. For you.”

Claudia ends off by fixing her with a look of despair. It’s broken when she comes face to face with the sight of Rayla in the midst of washing her face.

“Alright, alright,” Rayla says as she combs back her silver hair with a wet hand. She’s yet to catch on to how the action has resulted in an adorable cowlick, if the surprisingly soft grin on her sud-covered face is any indication. “I appreciate your human hospitality. Yada yada, sappy things like that.”

Admittedly, it’s… really hard for Claudia to maintain an appropriate level of despair when faced with the uncharacteristically candid sight.  _Alright, that's going in the vault of treasured memories,_ Claudia thinks with a smile and a laugh. She laughs even harder when Rayla calls her a weirdo and turns away from her.

“So, what gives?” Claudia asks after she’s calmed down and has wiped the tears from her eyes. “Callum didn't tell me you’d be visiting.”

“It’s just diplomatic business,” Rayla says tersely.

Claudia squints skeptically at her. When that doesn't work, she flicks water at her back until Rayla caves in and gives her an answer.

“Fine. I got here early and was going to revenge-prank you, but you seemed tired enough as it was, and even I'm not that cruel.” 

“There's no shame in backing down when faced with a prank master, Rayla,” Claudia preens, topping it off with a smirk. 

She expects to rattle or fluster her, even just slightly. She expects for Rayla to huff and call out her petulance, or utter some witty comeback, then shoo her from the room. What she doesn't expect is for Rayla to rise to the taunt so wholeheartedly. 

Rayla doesn't even need a verbal retort to hoist all the red flags in Claudia’s head. Her body speaks for itself, unsheathed as it is, and ready to fight. Her violet eyes take on an almost dangerous glint when they narrow at Claudia in a glare. When Rayla sneers, she bares a little more teeth than she needs to. 

Claudia doesn't blink, doesn't back down, doesn't even breathe. It takes her a second to understand it’s because she’s stunned, like a rabbit that’s only just realized it has strayed into the den of a fox. 

Chilly though the night may be, sweat beads at her forehead and neck.  _Woah. Is it just me, or is it getting kind of stuffy in here?_ Claudia thinks, red-faced and lightheaded as her eyes dart away from that piercing glare.

_Wait, that's the steam. Oh. Right._ Claudia thinks as she gets up. Bending down, she blows out the enchanted candle by the side of the tub. With her back turned away, Claudia takes the opportunity to gather her bearings by taking a few deep breaths.

“So…” Claudia says, voice still a bit rattled as she lays out the bath salts and shampoo for Rayla. She chances a glance behind her. Thankfully, Rayla doesn't seem quite so keyed up anymore. “Does anyone else even know you’re here? Or did you sneak past everyone again?”

Rayla makes a keening, guilty sound in the back of her throat before replying.

“…Marcos definitely knows,” Rayla admits. “Poor guy keeps getting sentry duty whenever I drop by. I sent Callum a message by hawk in advance, but he thinks I’ll reach tomorrow evening.”

_So we wouldn't have known if anything bad had happened to you until then?_ Claudia thinks with a frown. One of these days, she’ll get accosted by bandits in the woods, misguided, elf-hating humans, or worse!

“It’s dangerous to travel alone, you know?” Claudia throws a worried glance over her shoulder while pouring some bath salts into the tub. 

“Not when you don’t run into anybody,” Rayla says slyly. 

“Well, I can't argue with that.” Claudia lets out a resigned sigh. “You _are_ the sneakiest person I know.”

“I think you mean the best at sneaking,” Rayla says stiffly, “but yes.” 

Claudia hums in affirmation. It feels like she’s forgetting something.  _Oh! A change of clothes,_ she thinks as she turns to face the armoire. She fetches some loose fitting cotton pants, and a matching beige tunic. With them in hand, she gets up and in one smooth motion, turns and walks straight into Rayla with an  _oof_.

The best at sneaking indeed. Alright, that was her cue to leave, if she ever needed one.

The door creaks shut behind her as she exits. Laying a hand on the polished wood, she notices how the skin is still a little pink from the hot water. She thinks back to that sharp glint in those violet eyes, and doesn’t need to touch her face to know that her cheeks are a little pink now, too.

 

* * *

 

“You’ve gotten better at this,” Rayla surmises as she admires the braided lock of silver hair in her hand. She’s sitting cross-legged on Claudia’s bed, refreshed and decked in soft, laundered sleepwear after the well-deserved shower. It’s definitely added to her good mood, Claudia thinks with a smile.

“Is that your idea of a compliment? Someone’s a tough cookie,” Claudia says impishly, then sneaks a wink at her. “Lucky for you, I aim to please…” She trails off at this, her gaze straying to a spot above Rayla’s head.

“What is it? Spot a spider or something?” Rayla asks, quirking an eyebrow. 

“No,” Claudia answers, her eyes still glued to the same spot. “It’s just… I didn’t notice before, but your horns. They’re longer now. Do you mind if I—” Claudia asks as she leans forward, unable to contain the enthusiasm in her voice as she reaches out.

Rayla rolls her eyes before gently angling her head to help ease a horn into Claudia’s grasp. 

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Claudia hums as she begins mapping the length of a horn with her hands. She starts at the base, then traces the dark, grooved surface of one to its pointed tip. It’s not quite sharp enough to prick the tip of her finger, Claudia concludes with a hum. She has so many questions.  _How does it feel?_ Claudia wonders.  _Can Rayla feel anything at all?_ She’d read in a book that horns were made of the same stuff as bone and fingernails.  _So alright, maybe not…_ She thinks as she lets go of the horn.

“You’ve got that weird, sparkly look in your eyes,” Rayla remarks offhandedly as she taps Claudia’s nose with the tip of a slender finger.

On a scale of outraged anger to grudging acceptance, how amenable would Rayla be to the idea of having her nails done? The thought leapfrogs to the forefront of Claudia’s mind at the sudden intrusion into her personal space. It vanishes just as quickly when Rayla’s words register in her mind.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Claudia answers with a laugh as she squints, cross-eyed at the digit. “It’s not, is it?” Claudia tacks the question to the end, with a pout.

Closing her eyes, Rayla schools her face as if in serious consideration of Claudia’s question. After a bit, one lilac eye peeks out. “Nope, it’s just a Claudia-thing.”

Rayla has the gall to smirk at the flustered look on Claudia’s face. She totally deserves the light shove to the shoulder Claudia delivers in retaliation. She’s lucky that she’s pretty much Claudia’s favorite elf in the world, or she’d pull something more creative, like… put peanut butter in her boots, or something!

“So, yeah. Horns will keep getting longer,” Rayla says by way of explanation as she leans back against the wooden headboard. “Until the day I kick it.”

“How long are we talking here? Can I… expect a pair of majestic antlers when I’m all grey?” Claudia asks, unable to mask her curiosity, Rayla’s past transgression already left by the wayside. Tunnel vision or not, she can’t help it. It’s less about the horns, and more about the memories they help evoke: all the time they used to spend journeying together; all the time they’re now spending apart—

“You better hope not,” Rayla chimes in with a grin. “Then I won’t be able to fit through your door.”

Claudia answers with a short bark of laughter. Rayla’s sense of humor has always been a little tart, but in an piquant sense, like an aperitif taken before the main course. It’s a Rayla thing she’s gotten used to over the years, an endearing bit Claudia only found out after having teased it out, time and again.

“Aw, don’t say that. You can always shuffle in sideways, y'know? Like a crab!” Claudia chimes in. Almost immediately after, she starts imitating the crustacean by bending her arms and making bubbling noises with her mouth.

“That’s… Ugh. I know what a crab looks like. You look more a cross between a chicken and a fish,” Rayla grouses as she folds her arms, not the least bit enamored by Claudia’s suggestion.

Claudia chortles at the remark. Swept up in a laughing fit, she plops sideways onto plush, comfy bedding, in the process, displacing a few feathers from a wayward pillow. It lasts for maybe a minute. Thereafter, she curls up, against Rayla’s leg. Though Rayla practically radiates heat after her soak in the tub, it’s not quite the warmth exactly that she’s chasing, but the contact, the casual intimacy of it.

“Imagine a chimera like that!” Claudia enthuses with a wheeze. She wipes her tears away with one hand, while the other pats the cotton fabric of Rayla’s pants. “The head of a fish, the body of a chicken… and crab claws for hands!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Raya says softly. Her hand comes up then, to rest upon the small of Claudia’s back. She gives the spot a few considerate pats, as if to calm Claudia down. "I don't think the world’s quite ready for such an apex predator.”

“You’re right…” Claudia murmurs, stifling a yawn. 

Tired as she is from a long day of courtly duties, she’s still caught up in the momentum of this entirely hypothetical scenario. Imaginary chimera or not, all creatures should have characteristics to help them survive.  _It’s like a blueprint,_  she thinks, in recollection of childhood lessons about the biology of creatures. Disparate fragments should come together to form a seamless whole. 

“Maybe even fish-chic-crab isn’t ready for fish-chic-crab,” Claudia concludes. “I mean… how’ll Fickrab even breathe if its feathers keep it afloat all the time?”

“Such are the questions I’ll ponder when I’ve grown majestic antlers,” Rayla says solemnly as she leans over to tuck wayward strands of Claudia’s long, dark hair behind her ear. Claudia giggles at her remark, then stares, wide-eyed, at the fleeting display of tenderness. 

She can’t help it. The ghost of a touch isn’t nearly enough. 

On instinct, her hand reaches out to clasp over Rayla’s when she makes to pull away. Gently, Claudia guides it to press against the side of her cheek. Rayla’s shocked expression wanes against the sight of Claudia’s warm smile, until she’s smiling too. 

The shape of Rayla’s palm is a little different, but it’s warm and rough as ever. Her hand trembles ever so slightly before her thumb brushes the side of Claudia’s cheek, where years back, Claudia remembers being nicked by a poisoned-tipped arrow. Faded as the wound is, it’s hardly even a scar now.

When Rayla pulls away this time, their hands remain clasped at their side. 

Claudia bites her lip. She knows the words she wants to say, she’s nursed them many a night. She knows them well. But even here, even now, they seem clumsy on her tongue, like the time she tried to speak with peanut butter stuck to the roof of her mouth. 

It feels like for the longest time, all she does is look at their clasped hands. “I’ve missed you,” Claudia says finally, her voice oddly vulnerable coming from someone surrounded by warmth and comfort. “You know that, right?”

The candle by her bedside’s burning low, its flickering flame casting them in bronze hues. It’s not nearly bright enough, but that’s not the reason why Claudia doesn’t look over to try and discern the expression on Rayla’s face. It just… it’s weird. Rayla’s pretty much her favorite person in the whole world. So why then, does it feel like she’s baring her heart to a pack of wolves?

“Yeah,” Rayla says after a beat, her lilting accent cutting through the background din of wind like a sun-forged dagger through a block of wood. “I’ve missed you too.” 

Rayla squeezes her hand, and the soft pressure is enough to make Claudia’s breath catch in her throat, enough to choke her heart.  _Alright. Alright, alright, alright._

Rayla pulls her hand out of their grasp then, to bring the blankets up to cover the both of them. And it’s just such a Rayla thing to do—express just enough sentimentality to get her point across, then duck away from the topic entirely—that Claudia doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. What can she do? What can she do, but settle for some playful jibes.

“You’re turning in already? Way to poop a party, spoilsport,“ Claudia chastises, though there’s no bite behind her words. “Come on, Rayla. The night’s still young.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Elven tyrant here at your service,” Rayla says, her accent carrying an added veneer of pomp.

It makes Claudia laugh. It’s interrupted midway by a watery yawn. She can't help it, though admittedly, it tapers the effectiveness of her earlier protest.

“I know you’ve had a long journey, but fill me in at least. How are things going back in Xadia? How’s Zym?” 

“Just wait until tomorrow. You seem pretty… pooped yourself right now. I'm not sure how much you’ll remember come morning,” Rayla explains patiently. She fluffs a wayward pillow before helping to position it under Claudia’s head. “You were pretty wired before, too. How many cups of brown morning potion have you had?”

“You don't wanna know the answer to that,“ Claudia answers with a chuckle as she turns her face into her pillow. 

“Uh huh. And how long have you been awake?”

“Too long,” Claudia confesses, raising a fist in protest. Her hand flops down onto the mattress soon after. “Maybe I should form a magic guild or something and negotiate better work conditions. Hey, if anyone asks, you’re an honorary member.” 

Rayla laughs. “I’m sure Ez will understand if you bring it up,” she says, fluffing a pillow before laying her head down on it. “And why would I be part of the guild? I'm far from a mage.”

“Ezran’s alright, but Lord Protector Callum runs a surprisingly tight ship. And your membership would make perfect sense. It’d be a magic guild, not a mages guild. And you’re technically… a magical creature. See? Totally counts,” Claudia says, adding in some hand gestures to drive her point home. “Oh! Bait can be a member, too! That’ll bolster our numbers.”

…It definitely helps drive the wrong point home.

“Uh huh. I've heard enough,” Rayla concludes with a sigh. “Enough babbling. Come on, time for some shut eye.” She leans over to snuff out the bedside candle with a pinch, and then they’re plunged abruptly into the stilted silence of darkness.

 

* * *

 

There was a time when they found solace in the silence. Now, the pieces don’t quite fit. The things they’ve left unspoken hang in the air between them, and Claudia isn't prepared for how lonely it feels with just her thoughts for company.

It’s easier to hide in the banality of conversation.  _It’s easier to get carried along by its flow,_ Claudia thinks.  _It’s easier, but pay close enough attention, and you’ll notice things._

It feels so weird. She’s not even alone this time. Plus, her bed isn’t even that big. If she moves just so, she can knee Rayla in the gut.  _And then, I’ll probably get pushed off the bed,_ Claudia thinks with a chuckle. If she reaches out with her hand, she’ll be able to get Rayla’s attention. _And then what? What is it you think will happen? What do you want to happen?_ She thinks. Overthinks. It’s a Möbius strip running at full tilt in her head. 

Claudia blinks a little faster than she normally would, hoping it’d help her adjust a little quicker to the dearth of light. Before she knows it, it’s tears she's blinking out of her eyes. 

_Nostalgic hurts a little bit, but in a good way,_ Claudia thinks to herself. It hurts in that she doesn’t know how to temper the longing for something that no longer exists, not in the material sense. They’ve left that time behind them, together with the people they used to be.  

Wiping the tears away with the back of her hand, she turns to her side. She can trace the outline of Rayla’s profile, but the starlight streaming through the window is too dim to make out the expression on Rayla’s face. 

The details matter not. They’ve all grown. It’s plain to see. They wear the years they’ve lived through proudly, like the scars on their skin: each one earned. Claudia thinks this as she gingerly touches the old wound at her side. 

It happens less often now with each passing year, but she thinks of her misguided father. Not the shadow of a man undone by ambition and greed, but the man he once was. The man of principle who taught her about the world with a patient heart and a steady hand.  _To chart a future, one must first come to terms with his roots,_ he had told her, once before. 

The years stretch ahead and behind them, of adventures they’ve laid to rest and those they’ve barely even begun to dream of. They have already come so far. Yet the thought of breaking new ground is daunting. It’s like she’s standing on the edge of a mountain she’s spent years climbing. Now that she’s reached the top, she doesn't know where quite else to go.

Maybex sledding down the side of it will work, Claudia thinks in a giddy rush. It’s been ages since she’s gone mud sledding with Soren. She tries to imagine Rayla doing something so untoward, and cannot help giggling at the mental image. She’d make a sport out of it for sure.

_Baby steps,_ she thinks.  _Baby steps, before the great leap._ Claudia takes a steadying breath before she takes action.

Rayla cracks an eye open when Claudia taps the base of one of her horns.  _So she can feel it,_ Claudia thinks, giddy at the realization. A delicate eyebrow quirks as lilac eyes fix her with a probing stare. Even in the dark, her pupils seems to glow almost luminescent. Claudia swallows. Never before has she wished so hard for Callum’s talent for drawing as she has in this one instant. Ah, but she digresses—

“Don’t worry about the door,” Claudia says. She pats the top of what she thinks is Rayla’s knee, then shoots her a brazen wink. “For you, I wouldn’t mind knocking down a few walls.”

Rayla rolls her eyes, though a small smile still tugs at the corner of her mouth. Over the years, Claudia’s come to recognize all the different nuances in the action, is now able to comfortably file this particular eye roll under the category of fond exasperation.

The sheets rustle when Raya shifts just so, to prop an arm behind her head. “Soo… Fickrab? That’s what you’re calling it?” Rayla wrinkles her nose to display her aversion. “I can come up with a better name in my sleep.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Claudia murmurs before yawning once more. “Just don’t make me laugh again. I’m so tired right now, I might die.”

Rayla chuckles as she turns away from her, gearing up once more to sleep. “Don't tempt a trained assassin.” 

Claudia stifles another yawn. Try as she might, she can't shake off the heavy blanket of fatigue. In a few hours, the sky will usher in the promise of dawn. In a few moments, she’ll be dozing off herself.  _This was it,_ she decided.  _Now or never. Do or die. Spoon or be spooned._

“I’m calling it in,” Claudia says simply before she turns and rolls over to Rayla’s side of the bed.

“You’re… what?” Rayla asks without turning to look at her.

“That IOU,” Claudia murmurs as she flings an arm over her and the blanket. “I'm calling it in.” 

“What are you, five?” Rayla grouses.

“I’m a year older, so if I'm five, you’re four,” Claudia says in response, voice muffled by drowsiness. Nestled as she is in warmth and soft comforts, she presses her forehead to Rayla’s back before sleep takes her.

“There’s no winning with you, is there? Fine.  _Just_ … scoot over some. I wanna be the big spoon. Claudia? Hey, earth to the High Mage? Ugh. Already out like a light. Oh… fine!” Rayla grumbles and grouses before drawing closer to cuddle, mindful of scratching the headboard with her horns. 

Rayla falls asleep to the sound of Claudia’s soft snoring, to the steady rise and fall of Claudia’s heart pressed to her back. 

Rayla falls asleep with Claudia’s hand in hers.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought this scenario would be funny to write, but the fic kind of got away from me. Do share your thoughts!


End file.
